JTS. Yeah. Just in time sports. Life is good.
Look. This is just a town sports. Come and get
your weekly text. His opinion from the heart.
He can never show you fake. If you winning or
you losing, he going to tell it to you straight.
How do you talk in basketball without enjoying
Brian the bass? If you got the hottest dicks,
you better come and make it case. If you win
a couple games, he might even. We'll be right
back. What the hell, E? What the hell, Eon? What
the hell, Ayante? What the Tyrese Halliburton?
He did it again. Tyrese Halliburton did it again.
I'm so sorry. This is the Justin Towns Sports
Podcast. I am your owner and host, Justin Jackson.
This is a Game 1 Instant Reaction Show. Just
a little bit of backlog. I'm all over the place
right now mentally. I just finished watching
the game. I'm sorry. You know, I meant to do
a show before this and schedule got backed up.
I'm transitioning jobs at the moment, but I'll
keep you guys updated on that. Of course, for
those of you who are following my coaching journey,
there's a new spot coming up. I'll keep you guys
updated on that. Big news there. But none of
that matters right now. Tyrese Halliburton did
it again. The Indiana Pacers did it again. I
mean, numbers are just rolling in. The Indiana
Pacers led for exactly .3 seconds in this game,
and they won game one. Indiana has come back
down from 15 or more five times in the playoffs.
to win the game they've gone down five times
they've gone down eight times i'm sorry they've
gone down eight times in the playoffs by 15 times
or more in just 17 games they've won five of
those games um I mean, just ridiculous. Tyrese
Halliburton had an I mean, had a quiet night,
14, 10 and six, only 13 shots. We hit the biggest
shot of the night. Of course, he always does.
The Indiana Pacers. I mean, just look at some
team stats here. The Pacers shot the ball considerably
better. The Thunder shot it 39 .8%. The Pacers
shot it at 47 .6%. The Pacers hit 18 threes at
46 % clip. The Thunder only hit 11 threes at
a 36 % clip. However, the Thunder made six more
free throws. They shot them at a much better
percentage, 87 .5 % for the Thunder, as opposed
to 71 .4%. Major, major numbers, though. If you
look at it, one game, one stat. One singular
stat is the reason Oklahoma City should have
won this game. Turnovers. Only one stat was the
Oklahoma City had a decided advantage in, and
that was turnovers. But what I want you to pay
attention to is a couple points in the paint
as well. But turnovers, the Indiana Pacers had
25 turnovers. The Oklahoma City Thunder had 14
steals. The OKC Thunder only had seven turnovers.
But if somebody has 18 more turnovers than another
team, you're expecting a major difference in
points off turnovers. It was 11 -4. So the Thunder
had a bigger turnover difference than they had
in points off those turnovers. Again, they only
gave up seven turnovers. They forced 25, yet
they only were able to score 11 points off those
turnovers. No flavors, no technicals on either
side. OKC also had a 12 -point advantage and
points on the paint. So if you break this game
down, if you never watched the game, you would
actually be wondering how Indiana didn't blow
OKC out. I mean, think about it. You know, they
made the same amount of shots, literally. Both
made 39 field goals, but Oklahoma City made seven
more threes. That's plus 21 from the three -point
line. They had plus 17 in the rebounds. They
had a plus 11 in the assists. They were minus
12 in points in the paint. They were minus 7
in points conceded off turnovers. But that was
it. And it came down to Oklahoma City was swarming.
And it's just what they do. At this point, you've
got to accept. That is just what they do. Oklahoma
City entered as a 10 and a half point favorite.
The crowd was going crazy. It was the first playoff
game. It was the first playoff game. The first
finals game they had in 2012. That team we called
the Baby Thunder. This team is literally the
Baby Thunder. They're the second youngest team
ever. Make it to the finals. The youngest team
to ever make it actually won the finals. Bill
Walton's Portland Trailblazers. They were a couple
of months on average younger than this Oklahoma
City Thunder team is at just under 26 years of
age by average. If you look at the box score
entering the fourth quarter, the Pacers were
down nine points. They lost the first quarter
by nine. They had lost the second quarter by
three. They won the third quarter by three. So
the nine point difference and at no point. Was
the Indiana Pacers ahead? If you look at the
win probability, with 48 .1 seconds left, the
Oklahoma City Thunder had a 66 .5 % chance to
win. It actually, on my phone, it doesn't allow
me to do another change of possession until another
point was scored. So if you're looking, I mean,
I'm just going through the probability. At one
point, with 109 left in the third quarter, OKC
had a 93 % chance to win. And that was their
highest percentage. Again, 238, they had 93 .5.
But as late as 109 in the third quarter, they
had a 93 % chance to win the game. With 1022
in the fourth quarter, they had a 95 .8 % chance.
With 942 in the fourth quarter, they had a 97
.9 % chance. At that point, it was Indiana 79,
OKC 94. And then slowly the odds began to creep
down. But at one point, they had another with
252 left. It is OKC 107, Indiana 99. OKC has
a 97 .4 % chance to win the game. And yet they
don't. It's wild to see. If you just look at
the pure box score, the only number that stands
out was turnovers. So if you're Indiana right
now, A, you absolutely stole. And I mean, you
stole game one because you weren't. That was
a game you were supposed to lose. But a game
you would go back to your locker room saying,
OK, we lost it. But we lost it. on us. We didn't
lose it on them. We lost it on us. We lost it
on our turnovers. You won that game. For Oklahoma
City, that was the Shea game. I go into every
series thinking, okay, how can a team win? Right?
And my prediction, my official predictions on
social media was Thunder in five and SGA being
the MVP. And honestly, I'm sticking by that.
Indiana shot nearly 50 % from the three. They
made 50 % of their field goals. They out -rebounded
OKC by 17. I think not starting Hardenstein mattered
there. And it took a Halliburton miracle. It
took OKC shooting horribly and another Halliburton
clutch shot in order for OKC to lose. So if I'm
Oklahoma City, I'm upset I lost the game I should
have had. But at the same time, I'm in a space
where I'm okay. I go get one in Indiana and I'm
fine. You know what I'm saying? I take care of
business in game two. I go get one in Indiana.
Home court is back. It's best two out of three,
and I've got two in my home building. And one
of the toughest home buildings in the NBA. So,
I mean, I picked. OKC in five. I'm going to stick
by that. Obviously, you know, things change.
I plan on doing reaction shows every night. The
series is on, so things change. I may alter my
pick, but I say I had Oklahoma City in five with
the contention of they won both games in Oklahoma
City. I thought that they would go OKC win, OKC
win. You know, you would play. Indiana would
play that inspired game. The threes are falling.
OKC has the off night. Indiana wins. OKC goes
enough of this, beats them in game four, and
then it's just too much in game five. Very similar
to what they did in Minnesota. You know, they
kind of took the first two business. Minnesota
played that inspired third quarter or that first
half in game three. And then they said enough
of this, and they closed the door in game four,
and then they eliminated them in game five. I
thought it would be very similar. Now, Indiana
already has done something I don't think anybody
else has done in the playoffs besides, I think,
Denver. Denver got a game off OKC in the playoffs
at home. It's a situation where they're not used
to being in this position. 0 -1. I mean, this
team has won 80 games this year. This team, Oklahoma
City team, has the ability to be statistically
one of the greatest basketball teams the National
Basketball Association has ever seen. Statistically,
they've won 80 games. They're beating more teams
by 30 points in the playoffs than anybody else
in NBA history. They've had more 15 -point wins
than anybody else in NBA history, by more 30
-point wins than anybody else in NBA history
in the playoffs. SGA is the MVP. J -Dub is second
-team all -defense, third -team all -NBA. You
know, you have all these things going for you,
and yet Tyrese Halliburton said no. In a game
where Halliburton, wasn't um 30 point a night
Halliburton he was 14 10 and 6 Halliburton he
was the guy that okay I'm gonna make you play
me so hard that by the end of this game you know
you're gonna have to constantly rotate bodies
and um Halliburton I mean the Pacers became just
this third team ever with a 15 -point comeback
in the third quarter NBA Finals. I mean, what
happened tonight was historic. What happened
tonight was absolutely insane. If you look at
the Pacers, man, you know, just going through
and looking at them, they played, what, 10 guys?
That's a pretty, you know, that's pretty large
for the Finals. Usually it's a seven or eight
-man rotation in the Finals. But, you know, heavy
man inside of Halliburton, he went 39. Heavy
man inside of Siakam, he went 35. But 31, 32,
and 28 for the rest of your starters. Obi Toppin
gave you 25. After as bad as Obi Toppin started,
he goes 5 for 8 from 3. And then look at the
Pacers. Shea goes 40 minutes. J -Dub goes 36.
Dort goes 36. Kiki Caruso with 28 off the bench.
Chet only played 24. And only had one foul. That
could be a lineup change if you're OKC. You got
to figure out some way with these bigs. Your
bigs dominated. And just looking at your box
score, you play minutes without them. Because
Chet has 24 and Harington has 17. Together, that's
41, which means for seven minutes of the game,
neither one was on the floor. So for half a quarter,
you didn't have a big on the floor. And that's
something that they're going to have to adjust
to. Because, again, looking at the minutes on
Indiana, I think they were matching size with
Indiana. Because Turner has 28 minutes. Thomas
Bryant has eight minutes, which means they played,
you know, that's what, 36? I mean, they played
a quarter, 12 minutes without a big. And I think
Oklahoma City was answering that. If I'm Indiana,
another positive sign for me is that Oklahoma
City changed their lineup. All playoffs, OKC
had been using the same five lineup, both bigs,
SGA, Dort. and j -dub that's been their lineup
before the series even starts you pivot to wallace
you pull hardenstein you pivot to wallace so
automatically you're coming to match speed because
indiana runs so much so automatically you're
thinking we're gonna get smaller or we're gonna
get cooked in the fast break we're gonna get
murdered in the fast break we're gonna basically
go when they do a big we do a big If they go
two for some reason, okay, if they do Bryan and
Mark Turner for some reason, okay, we're going
to match two. We're going to try and keep the
sides closed because, again, they run all day.
Indiana runs all day. They don't stop. It was
so much after that first quarter, down nine,
Halliburton was like, basically, like, I know
we like to run, but in this case, we're going
to have to stop running. Like, because they run
all day. I can't say enough about Tyrus Halliburton,
man. This is the kind of stuff that makes you
a superstar. And Indiana hasn't had a superstar
since Reggie Miller. And before Reggie Miller,
they haven't had a superstar ever. I'm sorry.
It is what it is, right? This is the kind of
performances that make you a superstar. Because
no one remembers he had 14 points. I didn't know
he had 14 points. I feel like I remember every
shot he made. You know what I'm saying? But I
don't remember he had 14 points. Hell, Shea was
scoring so efficiently. Shea had a 38 -point
special that's going to get washed away. I mean,
38 points, five rebounds, three assists on 14
and 30 shooting. Like, that's a special night
in the finals. Your NBA Finals debut is 38 against
one of the better defenses in the NBA. It's 38.
But that's going to get washed away because of
Tyree Halliburton's shot. I mean, if you look
at that game, Siakam actually is the better was
the best player for Indiana. And Siakam only
had trying to go through real fast. Siakam goes
19, 10 and three. Halliburton was 14, 10 and
six. You know, you you weren't looking at a 35
point special from Halliburton or 30 point special
from Siakam. I mean, they played team basketball.
They balanced it out. I think SGA, the Indiana
team is tough as freaking nails, right? And I
think that SGA is kind of poked the bear. He
got into it with Nimhard. Fourth quarter, SGA
got a foul and pushed Nimhard. Now, it wasn't
a two -handed shove. It wasn't a, you know, anything
of note, really. If you didn't see it, you never,
I mean, Nimhard didn't show any signs of wear,
but it was enough to give a little shoulder movement.
And then her kind of clapped, like, okay. And
he kind of walked in front of SGA, between SGA
and the official, went before the free throw,
kind of bumped him a little bit with the shoulder,
kind of sent a message like, I'm not going anywhere.
And just one of those moments that you look back
on and go, that was a moment, you know. And I
think OKC was looking for the kill shot. I remember
sitting, I mean, of course, I remember, you know,
10, 15, 20 minutes ago, sitting, watching the
game and going, Indiana won't go away. It was
like every time OKC would hit that, felt like
boom shot where the crowd goes crazy and they
get a steal and get a layup and the crowd's going
insane. And then the next possession, OB topping
three or nim hard three or, you know, easy bucket
for Halliburton and see how come we get a mid
-range and the crowd were quiet. It's like every
time they were looking for that kill shot, that
boom shot to get rid of Indiana, they wouldn't
go away or they wouldn't make the shot. I feel
like a couple times Indiana was teetering. And
it was back -to -back missed threes from OKC,
and the Indiana were going to lay up. So instead
of potentially being down 12 -15, the crowd's
going crazy, you're down seven. And so I think
those were big swing moments. I do think Oklahoma
City gets game two in convincing fashion. They've
showed us throughout this playoffs, when they
do lose, that next game is a barn burner. It's
a thunderstorm. It's a showcase. Whenever they
lose, I mean, they go get you by 30. So I think
that, you know, Oklahoma City's going to dominate
game two. I'm sticking by OKC in five. We need
to have the win four straight. Not out of the
realm of possibility. I thought it'd be two,
lose one, they win two. Four straight's going
to be harder. Might end up in OKC in six, but
I am sticking by Oklahoma City winning the NBA
Finals with SGA being the MVP and becoming the
greatest Thunder of all time. If the Thunder
were to lose this game, he'd be the greatest
Thunder Sonic. I mean, Gary Payton and Sean Kemp
don't have MVPs. No one cares what happened with
that 79 team. And then KD and Russ don't have
rings in Thunder uniforms, although they have
MVPs. But, you know, Tyrese Halliburton has a
chance to be the greatest pacer ever. No pacer
has a final MVP. No Pacer has a regular season
MVP. So, therefore, a title, which I believe
will be the franchise's first, along with hoisting
a founding MVP trophy, has a chance for Tyrese
Halliburton to be the greatest Pacer ever. And
if SJ were to lose, he's right up there with
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook as greatest
Thunder. And he'd actually go below because of
what, you know, KD has scoring titles and all
NBAs. And Russ has the famous triple -double
seasons in the 2020 -20 game. You know, he would
actually still reign in third place as far as
the greatest Sonic Thunder of all time. So, crazy
game one. It teetered multiple times to being
wipeaways. Like, it teetered to being blowouts
multiple times. Kind of like they've done all
season, the Indiana Pacers just did not go away.
So absolutely amazing and great kudos to the
Pacers. I look forward to this series, man. I
kind of was glazing over the finals. I said it
on the YouTube show, probably not going to watch
the finals. And I meant that facetiously, but
like I was going to watch as a JTS owner just
opposed to a fan. I'm not going to watch as a
fan, right? Damn it, Halliburton, you've done
it. You've gotten me intrigued to watch the rest
of this series, and I'm excited for it. SGA,
man, you were special. I didn't love some of
the calls he got, but he's a superstar in this
league. He's the MVP. He's going to get those
MVP star calls. And Halliburton, man, the whole
gym knew it was you. The whole gym knew it was
some sort of high -screen action. The whole gym
knew you were going right. You were either going
to do the step -back three or you were going
to get to that mid -range you love so much. And
you got to the mid -range, pulled up, and nailed
it. I mean, spectacular, right? That's what stars
are made of. When you're in the moment, you make
the shot. Regardless, everybody knows you're
going. Everybody knows what you're going to do.
And you get to that spot and you make it. Everybody
knows in the clutch, KD's going to double -cross
over pull -up. They know LeBron's going to do
the drive left or pull up right. Like, there's
certain things that you know. Pull up left or
drive right. You know Kyrie Irving's going to
mix you and try and get you off balance and snatch
you back. Like, there's certain things you know
are going to happen. The great ones don't care.
The great ones make it anyway. And a huge shout
-out to Tyrese Halliburton for making the shot
to take the 1 -0 lead. Like I said, I mean, you're
the Thunder, man. A lot of the box scores against
you. And I'm sure they've had conversations of
what's acceptable as far as in the box. Of course,
you want to win rebounds. Of course, you want
to win three point line, whatever. But if that
team style is that you try to keep it close in
Oklahoma City left for 47 minutes, fifty nine
point seven seconds and lost young team pressures
on. Does that crack the locker room? Does that
splinter? Because Caruso can say what he wants
to say. He's never experienced that. They've
leaned on Caruso a lot for championship experience.
How does this feel? What does that do? How do
you handle this? Caruso's never dealt with this.
And so that's going to be something that Oklahoma
City, again, being such a young squad, they average
25 .6 years of age, give or take. They're going
to have to learn how to deal with this on the
fly. In front of everyone, social media, SportsCenter,
CNN, like besides Trump versus Elon Musk, this
is like the biggest thing happening. I mean,
shout out Aaron Rodgers for signing with the
Steelers. That was news, but like not really.
It was delayed reaction. It was like two and
a half months. But, you know, so this is going
to be huge for them. They're going to have to
bounce back. They're going to have to walk around
Oklahoma City. Like I hope they stay in the house.
But, okay, he's the kind of place that'll support
you. But you're down 0 -1 now. And so that's
something I got to figure out. But shout out
Tyrus Halliburton, man. What the Halliburton.
Huge huge shout out to him, man. Crazy shot.
And I just kept scanning it over and over again.
Hallie did it again. Hallie did it again. I mean,
just replays of the calf shots and the Nick shots
and, you know, that shot. Like, he's done it
over and over and over again. He's actually done
it now tied with LeBron and Reggie Miller as
far as last -second shots. Well, tied with Reggie
Miller behind LeBron as far as last -second shots
in the playoffs. I mean, kid's ridiculous. I
mean, shout -out Tyrus Halliburton, man. Absolutely
insane. And has Indiana believing that they can
go win a title. So the rest of the series should
be very, very interesting. You will definitely
hear from me again after game two. Excited about
this series. I'm excited now. I'm ready for game
two now. Let's go see what game two is about.
Over the moon excited. Cannot wait for game two.
But that is all I have for you today in the JTS
Game 1 NBA Finals Reaction Show. Shout out Tyrese
Halliburton. Follow J -Town Sports on all their
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JTS. But that is all I have for you today. This
is your host, Justin Jackson, signing out.